Booker wins New Jersey Senate seat

Democrat Cory Booker won the special election for New Jersey’s Senate seat on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The Newark mayor and heavy favorite in the race defeated Republican and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Booker led Lonegan by just over 10 points, 54.6 percent to 44.4 percent.

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The seat held by longtime Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) has been occupied by an interim appointee, Sen. Jeff Chiesa (R), since shortly after Lautenberg’s death in June.

Booker will bring the number of senators who caucus with Democrats to 55. The loss for Lonegan, who aligned himself with congressional Republicans’ shutdown strategy, comes as lawmakers in Washington finalize a deal to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling.

Booker’s final margin looked likely to stay in the low double digits, consistent with most recent public polling. A single-digit win would have heightened concerns for Booker as he looks to defend the seat for a full term next year in a state that President Barack Obama won by 17 points in 2012.

The date of Booker’s swearing-in has not been set but is expected before Nov. 5, according to GOP Gov. Chris Christie’s office.

Booker thanked supporters and paid tribute to Lautenberg in a speech on Wednesday night.

“Despite the cynicism and the negativity we often see on TV, despite a special election, New Jerseyans, hundreds of thousands, rejected all that and came out and voted,” he said, according to The Star-Ledger.

That turnout was low: About 1.2 million votes had been cast by 10:30 p.m., in a state of almost 5.5 million registered voters.

Lonegan reportedly said that he called Booker to congratulate him, and that he plans “to go back into the private sector, put my money where my mouth is.”

Booker had expressed his interest in the seat in December. Lautenberg had not said he planned to retire at that point, and Booker’s move opened a rift with Lautenberg’s family.

After Lautenberg died, Christie announced the special election would be held Oct. 16. That’s just under three weeks before the state’s gubernatorial election, when Christie is likely to win reelection against Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono. Democrats criticized the cost and timing of the special Senate election, which comes on a Wednesday and puts Booker and Christie on separate ballots.

Booker fended off three other Democrats in the Aug. 13 primary and became the instant frontrunner against Lonegan in a state that has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.

Booker underwent a fresh round of media scrutiny about his personal finances and the terms of his departure from law firm Trenk DiPasquale; the viability of his video startup, Waywire, and the investors behind it; and his behavior on Twitter, including messages to an Oregon stripper. The conservative National Review challenged the accuracy of stories Booker has told about befriending a drug dealer named T-Bone in Newark and rushing to the side of a dying shooting victim.

Booker also drew criticism from the left over his progressive credentials. “He represents the interests of both Wall Street and Silicon Valley,” Salon’s Alex Pareene wrote on the day of the primary, saying other, lower-profile contenders such as Rep. Rush Holt “will probably not use the Senate seat as a stepping stone to the White House, which means he may actually stick around long enough to gain seniority and someday actually achieve things.”

It was a renewed round of public vetting as Booker formally prepared to step onto the national stage. His ambitions beyond the Senate are unclear. He ruled out running for president in 2016.

Lonegan’s campaign against Booker focused on the mayor’s leadership of Newark, a city still struggling with unemployment and gun violence despite strides Booker argues the city has taken on his watch. “What New Jersey needs, sir, is a leader, not a tweeter,” Lonegan said in a signature line during the first debate, referring to Booker’s prolific tweeting.

Nationally known Republicans such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin swung through New Jersey to campaign for Lonegan. Christie, who defeated Lonegan in the 2009 gubernatorial primary, also endorsed him.

Lonegan also lobbed more personal attacks, saying that Booker was “ actingambiguous” about his sexuality and “maybe that helps to get him the gay vote.” Citing The Daily Caller, Lonegan also challenged Booker on his residency in recent days. Earlier, criticizing a property that Booker had owned for falling into disrepair, Lonegan announced a press conference at “Booker’s abandoned crack house.”

Last week, Lonegan fired strategist Rick Shaftan for his comments about Booker and the Oregon stripper. Shaftan told Talking Points Memo that what Booker said to the woman “was like what a gay guy would say to a stripper.”

During the shutdown standoff in Washington, Lonegan issued a statement to House Republicans telling them “not to capitulate to the president’s unreasonable demands. When I win, Obama will fold.” The campaign also said in the Oct. 10 statement that their internal polling showed “a neck-and-neck race.”

Booker treated Lonegan as a gadfly for much of the race but stepped up his attempt to paint Lonegan as a tea-party extremist as some public polls tightened. Lonegan came within 10 points of Booker in a Monmouth University poll conducted Oct. 10-12. It represented a growing sense that Booker had not run as strong a campaign as he could have, which would be a concern for him as he looks to defend the seat for a full term next year.

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged a $1 million contribution to airtime for Booker late in the race, and Obama cut a Web video urging Booker’s supporters to turn out on Election Day.

Booker was on pace to outraise Lonegan and had an advantage in the race’s $1.9 million in outside spending, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.

“Of that total, $1.6 million has been spent on advertising that favors Booker’s election, and the remainder is evenly split between ads that support Lonegan or attack Booker,” the Center’s Russ Choma reported.